Disclaimer: Based on characters and references created by DC Universe and the CW, which I do not own. Enjoy!
William opens his eyes, feeling no pain from Dibney's punch. He expects himself to be in a cage or in one of the labs. Instead, He finds himself in a forest.
William slowly gets up and looks around. Trees and grass invade everything in front of him. Yet, he cannot help but feel that this place is…familiar.
"Think big," a distant yet familiar voice behind him says, leaving behind an echo that becomes louder every time the phrase begins again.
William turns around, seeing…him! Of course, him. William should have known that he was behind this. He stands in a parking lot next to another man whose face William cannot see. But from the long hair and white coat, William suspects the man of being a weary scientist. The man holds a book that is emanating power from its pages.
William quickly walks towards him and the man. His voice is now even louder, yet not enough to make William's eardrums ache. Barely halfway there, he disappears, leaving the man on his own and the echoes of the phrase cease. William stops and readies himself, somehow believing that he is still here somewhere.
"It is time, William," his voice utters from behind.
William's eyes grow wide. He remembers that saying, even though it is pronounced a bit differently. It was from his dream, told to him by Adrian Chase before being shot. It all makes sense now.
William, now frowning and clenching his fist, turns around. Instead of seeing him, however, he sees Shazam in handcuffs.
"William!" Shazam yells.
William's eyes grow wide again. "Billy?!"
"William! Listen to me! Mia and Mr. Diggle are fine, but you need to get to Earth 38! Train up Barry and Oliver! He plans to—"
"Guys! Come on, guys! Let us out!"
William wakes with a start, seeing Barry slamming on a large glass door. He then feels a hand on his shoulder.
"William," a familiar voice says next to him. He turns and sees Oliver wearing handcuffs. "Are you okay?"
William feels a slight headache from Ralph Dibney's punch, but he still nods and says, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay."
William stands up slowly, Oliver keeping a hand ready to support him. Upon looking around, William finds himself in a room with blue tiled walls, along with a black ceiling and floor. Beyond the glass door is a hallway with a control panel next to the door, as well as panels along the bottom of the wall that may be covering some wiring. William has seen this kind of setup before.
"Are we…are we in a meta prison?"
Barry turns around, his wrists also in handcuffs. "It's not a meta prison. It's a tesla conductor tube with meta dampening tech."
William wants to cross his arms but finds that he is handcuffed too. Instead, he and Oliver tilt their heads slightly and look at Barry with raised eyebrows until he sighs.
"Okay, fine. It's a meta prison." He steps away from the door and looks up at the roof, possibly towards a camera. "We just have to show them that we're NOT CRAZY."
"It's no use," William says. "Their actions are being driven by fear. They won't listen to us. Besides, I think the storm is messing with their cameras."
"Then we need to get out of here," Oliver suggests. "Get back to the Bunker and have Felicity and the others figure things out."
"We can't." William quickly says. "Don't ask me how, but…I just had a vision. Billy's been captured."
"What!?" Oliver asks, his eyes wide in fear. "What about John? Mia?!"
"They're fine. At least, according to Billy. But he told me to get you guys to Earth 38 and train you there. We got cut off before he could explain why."
"I think I do," Barry says. "The reality change may only have happened on this Earth. Maybe Earth 38 was unaffected. We go there, find Kara, and she can help us out."
"Sounds good," William agrees. "We can find a way to contact the Bunker when we get there. Right now, let's focus on how we can get out of here. Hold on a sec."
William wraps his hand around his thumb and prepares to dislocate it.
"Whoa! Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Oliver protests, grabbing William's hand. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Dislocating my thumb so I can get out of these cuffs," William explains. "What else?"
"You're going to break your hand!"
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are!"
"NO, I'M NOT because my mentor helped me stretch and condition my ligaments. Now, please let me get to work."
Oliver hesitates for a moment, but eventually let's go. William then dislocates the thumb and slips out of the cuff. After fixing the thumb, he does the same to the other, taking the handcuffs off entirely and dropping them onto the floor.
"See Dad?" William tries to assure Oliver. He then turns to Barry. "Now you Barry."
Barry looks down at his hands with a slightly gaping jaw and shakes his head. "No. No way! I'll break my hand!"
"No, you won't," Oliver assures. "You're me right now, and like me, your ligaments have been stretched and conditioned by Anatoly Knyazev in the art of escape. Now, man up, apply pressure and dislocate your thumb!"
Barry takes a deep breath and reluctantly does what William did before. Unlike William, Barry grunts as he does the process, not used to the pain.
After throwing the cuffs down, Barry chuckles in relief. "I actually did it."
"Yeah, you did," William congratulates. "Now, how do we get out of here?"
Barry looks around the room. "Well, we need Oliver to phase us out, but the meta dampener is on, so it's impossible-." Barry stops when his eyes lay on the right corner of the room. He narrows his eyes. "Unless…"
Barry runs over there and kicks the side wall lightly. Coming out of it is a metal toilet with some exposed wiring on the top part of it.
"I always wondered how every meta criminal went to the bathroom in here," Oliver remarks.
Barry then places a hand into the toilet water, reaching for something. William immediately catches on to Barry's plan.
"You're backing up the pipes to fry the dampener, aren't you?"
"Yeah, and I should be done…now!" Barry says as a clicking sound from the toilet echoes in the cell. He retracts the hand, shaking off the toilet water. "Okay, now give it a minute."
They can hear the roaring sounds of pipes rupturing, traveling from the toilet to further up the cell. Eventually, they hear the crackle of electricity and the low hum of technology shutting down.
"Dampener is down," William says when turning to Oliver. "Okay Dad, your turn. Phase out of the cuffs and then out of here with us."
"Right," Oliver responds in an almost reluctant tone. "What is that again?"
"Phasing," Barry begins to explain. "It's when I vibrate at the frequency of air causing all the cells in my body to get excited so I can pass through solid objects."
Oliver nods. "Okay, got it."
Oliver stands in front of the glass door, holds his hands up to his waist and takes a deep breath. For the first few seconds, nothing happens. William begins to tap his foot impatiently.
Barry is hesitant, but eventually asks, "Do you need any advice on—"
"I'm concentrating here Barry!" Oliver insists.
William subtly sighs. Sure you are Dad.
"It's kind of hard to do," Barry continues, despite Oliver's anger. "If you screw it up, you'll phase halfway through the glass…"
As Barry is lecturing, Oliver turns around, opening his mouth to shout again. Instead, after a couple of seconds, he starts laughing. To William and Barry, it's very random for Oliver to do so. Unnatural even.
"What?" Barry asks.
"I-I didn't realize," Oliver begins to explain, his laughter almost preventing any words from coming out. "Your-your thumbs look ridiculous!"
William looks at Barry's thumb, seeing how bent and loopy they look. He almost laughs himself, but holds it in.
Barry, however, looks at his thumbs in wide-eyed horror. "Oh God! I forgot to fix my thumbs. How do I even—"
Suddenly, the sound of handcuffs hitting the floor comes out of nowhere. William and Barry see, to their surprise, Oliver now free of his cuffs.
"Wow," William says. "That was fast."
"Whoa," Oliver says in amazement, looking at his hands with a smirk.
"Yeah. You did it," Barry says, sounding almost bitter. "Now let's get out of here."
Oliver places his hand on the glass while William and Barry place theirs on Oliver's shoulders. William can feel the familiar rush of a speedster's run, his body as light as air as they went through the glass. When they stopped, William feels some disorientation, given that he hasn't ridden with a speedster for a while.
"Figured it out!" Oliver exclaims.
When the disorientation passes, William feels his pockets for the breach beacon and miniature case with his suit. None of them are in there.
"Dang it! They took our stuff."
"I think I know where it is," Barry says. "Follow me."
"Uh, Barry," William calls before Barry starts walking out, pointing to his thumbs.
"Oh! Right," Barry realizes. "I don't—"
"Let me."
As soon as Barry's thumbs were fixed, he leads them on. As they cautiously walk through the hallways of Star Labs, William can't help but think about what Shazam was about to tell him before he woke up. What HE has planned.
Barry leads them into the small lab where his team ambushed William. Awaiting them on one of the tables are the cases with their suits and William's breach beacon. He runs to them and examines the one with his suit, indicated by the red arrow on the top. He examines it, seeing a couple of minor scratches on the lock, but no signs of entry.
He then looks at the breach beacon, flipping it to the front and back. There are no scratches, nor any fingerprints. He puts his thumb on the scanner that nearly blends in with the rest of the metallic surface and activates it.
William smirks. "Still intact." He places his case in his pocket and points the breach beacon away from Oliver and Barry. "Now, let's get to Earth 38 quick before—"
"Hey guys!"
The three of them immediately turned towards the door, readying themselves to fight whoever is there to stop them from leaving. However, instead of being one of the members of Team Flash who locked them up, it is someone else. Nora Allen, Barry and Iris' daughter, wearing a black jacket and black pants with a white shirt underneath.
Nora puts her hands up quickly. "Wait, wait, wait! It's just me! What's going on?" Nora then looks at Oliver and raises an eyebrow. "And why is Oliver Queen wearing your ring, Dad?"
The three of them exchange glances of surprise before Oliver asks, "So, you know I'm Oliver and he's Barry?"
"Yeah," Nora answers in an awkward tone.
Oliver then shakes his head, as if he is missing something. "Wait, who even are you?"
"Oh right," Barry says as he stretches a hand to Nora. "Oliver, this is Nora, my daughter."
Oliver narrows one of his eyes and points at Nora. "You're from the future too?"
"Yeah," Nora answers shyly. "Uh, William has told me a lot about you, Mr. Queen."
Oliver looks to William for confirmation.
"It's true," William answers.
"Wait," Nora interjects. "Why did you think I wouldn't recognize you two?"
"Well…" Barry says, but hesitates to answer. He probably doesn't know where to begin or if Nora will believe them. "Uh…"
"Show her," William says to Oliver.
Oliver, making use of his newfound abilities, raises his hand and causes it to phase.
Nora's jaw drops. "Whoa! You guys switched powers?"
"No," William answers as he walks to Oliver's side. "They switched realities."
"Realities?" Nora repeats. After a few seconds, she smiles in amazement. "Oh, that is so schway!"
Oliver leans towards William's ear and whispers, "Schway?"
"It's future slang. I don't know how it caught on."
"Did you tell Mom and the others?"
"We did," Barry answers. "But…they locked us up in the pipeline afterwards."
Nora's smile quickly fades. "Okay. That is NOT Schway."
"No, it's not." Barry then pauses for a moment and raises an eyebrow. "Wait. How can you recognize us? Actually, where were you?"
"Oh," Nora says with a bit of a defensive tone, as if caught off guard by the question. "I, uh, kinda went back to 2040. Nothing major! I just had to wrap up some unfinished business."
From how quick she talked and the way she did not meet her father's gaze, William, maybe even Oliver, can tell something wasn't right. But it is of no consequence right now. What mattered was an implication she made.
"So, you were in the Speed force for the majority of the time?"
"That's right," Nora confirms.
William thinks on this for a minute before hypothesizing, "I always theorized that the Speed Force was connected to time, but maybe not with reality on a certain scale. Maybe it shielded you from the changes while traveling back and forth between time."
"Probably," Nora guesses. "So wait. What are you going to do now?"
"We're escaping to Earth 38," William answers. "We know someone who can give us refuge and these two training."
"Well, then let me come with you. I can help."
"Not on Earth 38," William insists as he walks towards her. "But there is another way. You know where the Bunker in Star City is?"
Nora nods. "Yeah. I do."
"Good. Go there and find Felicity and the others. Tell them what happened. They're our best bet to figure out what's going on."
"Right. I'll head there now." She turns around and is about to run. But then she hesitates for a moment before saying, "But first…"
Nora dashes out of the room and is back within a second. She holds up her hand, which has another breach beacon, which Flash and his team call an extrapolator.
"Now they can't follow you," she says with a smirk.
"What was that gust of wind?!" Cisco's voice cries out.
"Go! quick!" William exclaims.
"Okay. I'll come get you when things cool down."
William nods before turning around.
"And guys?" Nora calls out before William can activate his breach beacon. "Be careful."
"Nora?!" Iris' voice echoes down the hall. "Is that you?!"
"Go!" William orders. This time, Nora runs out and does not come back.
William then turns around again and presses the button on the breach beacon. The blue portal activates the breach beacon he has set on Earth 38.
"Guys!" Cisco's voice emanates again. "I'm hearing a breach! Down here!"
William runs to the portal while shouting, "Go! Go!"
Without a moment more to waste, Barry and Oliver follow suit, going through the breach and escaping from Star Labs.
